Tag: mass shooters

Narrating war and terror. A historical perspective.

For those of us in developed societies, it is hard to overstate the importance of words and images and the effect they have on our lives. Although we live in a world in which many people don’t have the time or energy to read much in the way of books or hard news, words and language are as important now as ever before. Whether we’re aware of it or not, those of us in modern, developed societies are immersed in an ongoing narrative that’s constantly swirling about us, informing and transforming perspectives. Powerful forces in over-extended economies desperate to generate infinitely increasing profits focus tremendous energy on creating and broadcasting information to influence how we should feel about ourselves, others, and the world in general. While the Shakespearean stage has never and will never really exist for many of us, an unceasing flood of commercially-generated narrative holds us transfixed in a rush of words, images, and archetypes that are constantly chiseling away at our brains: shaping, directing, urging. We exist within and are caught up in this narrative even though most of us are merely observers and bit players in it.

Where do you find the rebel in a world where James Dean travels around on a postage stamp? Or when he’s a corporate CEO sporting a $4,800 leather jacket out for a ride on his Harley 1)see James Dean Transfigured: The Many Faces of Rebel Iconography by Claudia Springer? Or for that matter, the president of a major country, like Vlad “Bad Boy” Putin tearing around Moscow? Or those almighty iconoclasts in Silicon Valley sporting designer jeans and turtlenecks?